Good Evening Berlin 2009 (Piccadilly Circus PCCD-79/80/81)
O2 World, Berlin, Germany – December 3rd, 2009
Disc 1 (62:13): Magical Mystery Tour, Drive My Car, Jet, Only Mama Knows, Flaming Pie, Got To Get You Into My Life, Let Me Roll It, Highway, The Long And Winding Road, I Want To Come Home, My Love, Blackbird, Here Today, Dance Tonight, And I Love Her
Disc 2 (67:20): Mrs. Vanderbilt, Eleanor Rigby, Band On The Run, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Sing The Changes, Back In The U.S.S.R., Something, I’ve Got A Feeling, Paperback Writer, A Day In The Life – Give Peace A Chance, Let It Be, Live And Let Die, Hey Jude
Disc 3 (67:10): Day Tripper, Lady Madonna, Get Back, Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Sgt. Pepper’s Reprise – The End. Bonus, “Children In Need” Royal Albert Hall, London – November 12th, 2009: introductions, Back In The U.S.S.R., Get Back, Sir Terry Wogan Speech, Hey Jude. Broadway, New York, NY – October 26th, 2009: introductions, Slow Boat To China. Neil Young concert, Hyde Park, London – June 27th, 2009: A Day In The Life. “Hello Hamburg” rehearsals, November 30th, 2009: A Day In The Life, Meat Free Monday
Good Evening Berlin 2009 is one of several pressed titles on Piccadilly Circus documenting Paul McCartney’s European tour in December. This was his first visit to Europe since 2004 and he chose seven arenas scattered throughout the continent, three of them in Germany. The December 3rd Berlin show was the second stop and the label uses a very good and dynamic stereo audience tape of the entire concert and is the best sounding tape of the lot recently issued by this label.
McCartney and Bruce Springsteen are perhaps the only two classic rock acts who present very long shows for their audience. McCartney’s set lasts for two and a half hours covering all eras of his career. And every time he goes on a new tour he adds songs that had never been played live before. In these shows he added two Beatle tunes “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “And I Lover Her” to the repertoire, plus the new song “I Want To Come Home” from the soundtrack to the film Everybody’s Fine.
“Magical Mystery Tour” returns as the set opener. He retained many of the new songs introduced recently such as “Mrs Vanderbilt” and the Firemen songs, which sound tremendous live. McCartney also keeps all of the same quips between songs as well, so Berlin hears the Jimi Hendrix story after the “Foxy Lady” coda to “Let Me Roll It” and the Lennon story before “Here Today.”
In the middle of the show McCartney plays several songs solo on acoustic guitar providing an intimate atmosphere. Intimacy is also achieved in his running joke throughout the show in trying to speak German to the Berlin audience. He even goes to the point where he asks “I hope you understand this language I’m speaking. It’s German” before “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”
Piccadilly Circus include several excellent bonus tracks to fill out disc three. The first is McCartney’s appearance on the BBC for the Children In Need charity. This is taped from the telecast and is in excellent quality. This is followed by McCartney appearing in a show dedicated to songwriter Frank Loesser. He speaks about growing up listening to Broadway tunes and sings Loesser’s “Slow Boat To China“.
Following this is McCartney joining Neil Young on stage in Hyde Park this past summer for “A Day In The Life.” The sound quality of this tape is okay but not great. The final tracks are taken from the tour rehearsals of the band practicing “A Day In The Life” for two minutes and “Meat Free Monday.” This was taped and broadcast on Frankfurt radio and is good quality. Good Evening Berlin 2009 is the better of the three titles released by Piccadilly Circus from the latest tour. It is packaged with their standard non-pretentious packaging and is recommended.
